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Epic Adventure
In the Mirror Universe, an amoral, imperialistic version of the Enterprise crew is led by Captain Forrest and his treacherous first officer, Archer. Archer has proposed that the ship head into Tholian space, where a mysterious vessel has been captured. Archer believes the ship may contain the technology that would be valuable to the Terran Empire. Forrest, however, thinks Archer is merely trying to seize power, and dismisses the idea. A determined Archer has another plan up his sleeve, however — with help from Major Reed and Sergeant Mayweather, he stages a mutiny, taking control of the ship and imprisoning Forrest in the brig. Archer promotes Commander T'Pol to first officer, appoints Mayweather his personal guard, and takes up with Forrest's lover, Hoshi. As Enterprise approaches Tholian space, the crew captures a Tholian pilot. Phlox takes great pleasure in torturing the creature, who finally gives Archer the information he wants: the exact location of the mysterious vessel. In Engineering, Trip and T'Pol work to install a Suliban cloaking device on Enterprise. Something goes wrong, however, and a power overload damages the cloak. Archer realizes it was sabotage, and Reed determines that the saboteur was Trip. Reed tortures Trip using the sadistic agony booth, but the engineer offers no further information. Later, Archer has another realization: the target of the sabotage wasn't the cloak — it was the ship's internal sensors. In fact, the actual culprit was T'Pol, who mind-melded with Trip and tricked him into performing the sabotage. T'Pol frees Forrest from the brig and the duo takes control of the bridge. Archer, however, has a surprise for them: he's encrypted the ship's controls, and they won't be released until Enterprise has reached its destination in Tholian space. Forrest is furious, but there's not much he can do — especially when he is ordered to investigate the captured ship. Archer briefs the senior staff on the ship: it is believed that the vessel came from a parallel universe via an interphasic rift. What's more, the ship isn't just from another reality — it's also from another time, about 100 years in the future. Once Trip gets the cloaking device working, Enterprise heads for the coordinates of the future ship. The ship, which bears the name and registry U.S.S. Defiant, NCC-1764, is being kept inside a Tholian spacedock facility. Forrest sends an assault team, led by Archer, onboard. He tells T'Pol to accompany the team — and to make sure Archer doesn't come back alive. The team boards the ship, which is littered with dead human bodies. Still, they manage to bring the Defiant's systems online. Onboard Enterprise, the Tholian prisoner wakes up and starts making a racket . Phlox kills it, but Enterprise's problems aren't over: several Tholian ships are approaching. Using continuous streams of energy, the Tholian vessels form a complex web that completely surrounds Enterprise. As the web closes in on the ship, Forrest tries to fight back, but to no avail. Desperate, he orders everyone to abandon ship. From the bridge of the Defiant, Archer and his team watch in shock as Enterprise explodes with Forrest onboard. Moment after watching Enterprise's fiery explosion, Archer and his team are attempting to escape on the Defiant. The Tholian ships try to trap them with their deadly web, but Archer and crew manage to get the Defiant's systems working and use the ship to fight their way out. They also bring the escape pods from Enterprise onboard. Archer and Hoshi peruse the ship's computer for information on their parallel universe counterparts. Archer is shocked to find no mention of the Empire — only something called "The United Federation of Planets." He's also disturbed to learn that his alternate universe counterpart is a starship captain and revered explorer. The crew eventually discovers that they are not alone on the Defiant — a strange, reptilian creature known as a Gorn is hiding onboard, and he seems intent on sabotaging the ship. Archer goes after the Gorn and the two engage in an intense physical scuffle. Archer manages to get the upper hand by changing the gravity in that particular section of the ship and shoots the alien. Later, the Defiant saves an imperial starship, the Avenger, from a rebel attack. Admiral Black, who is in command of the Avenger, is shocked to see Archer at the helm of this futuristic, alternate Earth vessel. Black tells Archer he will recommend him for a command as soon as possible, but Archer is impatient. Tormented by mocking visions of his more accomplished parallel universe counterpart, Archer becomes enraged. He's determined not to let Black take the Defiant from him. His megalomania and paranoia building, Archer shoots and kills Black. He then brings the Avenger's crew under his command and tells them that he plans to seize control of the Empire. At least one person isn't sure of this plan, however . T'Pol believes that Archer will use the Defiant's advanced weapons to completely wipe out the rebellion, including thousands of Vulcans. She approaches Avenger crewmember Soval with a plan of her own — she wants to steal the data on Defiant's engines and tactical systems, give it to the rebels and destroy the ship. The duo manages to recruit Phlox and other non-Terrans to their cause. T'Pol is found out and taken prisoner, but Soval manages to get control of the Avenger while Phlox sabotages the Defiant. It's all for naught, however — Phlox is taken down before he can complete his sabotage and the Defiant destroys the Avenger. Later, onboard the Defiant, Archer and Hoshi celebrate. Archer plans to erase the ship's historical database, to prevent information getting out on the alternate universe. As Archer toasts his imminent reign as Emperor, he suddenly finds himself gasping for breath. He realizes that Hoshi has poisoned him. As Archer takes his final breaths, Hoshi reveals her co-conspirator: Mayweather. The two kiss passionately while Archer dies. Now in command of the Defiant, Hoshi orders all to surrender to Empress Sato — the new ruler of the Terran Empire. After failing to persuade the Halkan Council to allow the Federation to mine dilithium crystals on their planet, Captain James T. Kirk, along with Dr. McCoy, Scotty, and Lt. Uhura, return to the Enterprise. An unexpected ion storm causes a transporter malfunction, and the landing team beams aboard an unfamiliar Enterprise. The group realizes something is amiss as they arrive on the transporter pad: a goateed Mr. Spock viciously tortures the transporter operator, Lt. Kyle, for carelessness in nearly losing the ship's captain. (Low ranking crew members carry "agonizers", which superior officers use to punish them for dereliction of duty.) Kirk deduces that they must have switched places with their mirror-universe counterparts, and the landing party from this universe must now be aboard his Enterprise, and that his landing party must impersonate their counterparts until they can find a way home. In this alternate universe, the USS Enterprise is called an "Imperial Starship" or ISS Enterprise, and a brutal Terran Empire has replaced the Federation. Officers rise in rank by assassinating their superiors (as Kirk discovers when Chekhov nearly succeeds in assassinating him), and as a result all high ranking officers must hire a personal bodyguard. Uniforms in this alternate universe are very different; sidearms and daggers are standard issue, while the clothing itself is much more revealing. Torturing subordinates is an acceptable form of discipline in this alternate universe. On board on the USS Enterprise Mr. Spock notices the changed personalities of the landing party and orders security to take them to a holding cell. The mirror Kirk tries to bribe Spock with rewards of "a command of (his) own" if he's freed but Spock simply replies "fascinating" and continues investigating. Spock comes to the same conclusion as Kirk: the ion storm must have opened a barrier between parallel universes and the two landing parties have switched places. Back on the ISS Enterprise, Kirk goes to the captain's quarters on this ship, which are quite different from his own. He discovers that the mirror-Kirk has been ordered to annihilate the Halkans if they refuse the Empire's "request" to mine dilithium, and horrified, Kirk studies his counterpart's records further, In this universe, "Kirk" gained command of the ISS Enterprise by assassinating Captain Christopher Pike and was responsible for massacring 5,000 colonists on Vega IX, among many other atrocities. Mirror-Spock informs Kirk that the ship is ready to attack the Halkans. Desperately, Kirk orders a delay in the attack for 12 hours. This piques mirror-Spock's curiosity, but he obeys the order; he does report the suspicious activity of his Captain to the Imperial Command, and receives orders to kill Captain Kirk if he does not carry out the order to destroy the uncooperative Halkans. Having failed to sabotage the weapons systems, Scotty and McCoy work secretly to figure out what happened with the transporter. While Scotty is finding a way to return them to the correct universe, Kirk goes to his quarters and meets the beautiful Lieutenant Marlena Moreau, who refers to herself as the "Captain's Woman". It appears that female crew members may attach themselves by agreement to particular men - Marlena is evidently tiring of her Kirk. Marlena shows Kirk the Tantalus Field, a device in the captain's quarters which can secretly monitor anyone on the ship and "eliminate" them. When he prevents her from eliminating the mirror-Spock, she realizes something is wrong--her Kirk would not have hesitated. Kirk stalls the mirror-Spock while his crew search for a way home, but Spock is suspicious. Spock, not wanting command of the ISS Enterprise as it would make him an instant target of assassination, decides instead to study the Captain as long as he can. Scotty has, with the aid of McCoy, rigged up the necessary connections to make a return switch. Mirror-Sulu, the security chief, is distracted from his monitors at the vital moment of connection by Uhura seeming to encourage his previously-rejected amorous advances. The party reaches the transporter room, but the mirror-Spock confronts them and leads them to sick bay. In the ensuing fight, Kirk knocks the Vulcan and the mirror-Sulu unconscious. (Marlena has "eliminated" Sulu's thugs with the Tantalus Field.) Uhura, Kirk, and Scotty head for the transporter room again while McCoy stays behind to make sure that mirror-Spock is all right. In the transporter room they meet Marlena, who now knows the facts and asks them to take her with them. Kirk refuses on the grounds that the energy is set for four people. Marlena persists and is disarmed by Uhura. Mirror-Spock suddenly comes to and quickly mind melds with McCoy in order to read his mind. He discovers the switch, and offers to operate the transporter so that the entire landing party may return to their own universe. This convinces Kirk that this universe's Mr. Spock is still an ethical Vulcan guided by logic. He suggests to mirror-Spock that a Federation-like system is more logical than the ruthless barbarian Empire. Spock objects that one must have the power, and Kirk informs him of the Tantalus Field. Mirror-Spock agrees to consider the idea. (Marlena is presumably now on his side.) On board the USS Enterprise, Spock decides to attempt the beaming sequence at the same time the ISS Enterprise attempts theirs. The switch is successful. As the episode ends, Kirk meets his own universe's Lieutenant Marlena Moreau, who is quite a different girl from what he experienced her to be in the other universe. Kirk tells Spock that Moreau "seems like a nice, likable girl" and that he thinks they "could be friends". The real Spock also comments that the ruthless attitude of the Mirror Kirk, Dr. McCoy, Scotty, and Uhura were refreshing, and "the very flower of humanity". Part I of the series begins with a karate tournament at Angel Grove's Youth Center. Competition in sparring has been eliminated down to two final contestants: Jason Lee Scott, the Red Ranger, and newcomer Tommy Oliver. Tommy quickly takes a 4-2 lead, but Jason battles back to end the match in a 4-4 draw. Jason is impressed with Tommy, as are Zack Taylor, the Black Ranger, and Billy Cranston, the Blue Ranger. Kimberly Hart, the Pink Ranger, also shows some interest in Tommy, a fact her best friend, Yellow Ranger Trini Kwan, is quick to pick up on. The next day at school, Tommy stands up to Bulk and Skull, the school bullies, when they harass Kimberly. She is further impressed and invites him to a study date at Ernie's Juice Bar. But Rita Repulsa, also impressed with Tommy's abilities, sends a squad of Putties to attack him while he is on his way to meet Kimberly. When he defeats them, she captures him and takes him back to her palace on the moon. There she coats his body with magical wax and casts a spell on him, brainwashing him into becoming her servant. He swears allegiance to his "empress", and she assigns him to destroy Zordon, the Command Center, and the Power Rangers. To fulfill the mission, she gives him the Dragon Power Coin, and he morphs into the Green Ranger. The Evil Green Ranger goes first to the Command Center, which he can enter since he possesses the Dragon Power Coin. He finds Alpha 5 recharging, and inserts a CD-ROM containing a computer virus, causing the droid to convulse and stumble all over the Command Center. Zordon, who was in a meditative state when Tommy entered, demands that the intruder reveal himself. Tommy does, boasting of his newly acquired power. Then, despite Zordon's offer to help him break the spell, he breaks the dimension contact with Zordon, tearing the Command Center's computers to pieces and ripping up the circuitry. In spite of the virus, Alpha manages to make contact with the other Rangers, who were cleaning Billy's car, the RADBUG. His erratic talking and the failure of the communicators and the teleporter mechanisms alerts the Rangers to the fact that there is something seriously wrong. They take the RADBUG to the Command Center, where they are shocked to find the place totalled, Alpha staggering around talking gibberish, and Zordon gone. Billy removes the CD-ROM from Alpha's system, rendering him semi-operational, and try to figure out what happened. But Alpha can tell them nothing, since the virus scrambled his memory banks. Meanwhile, Rita uses her magic wand to grow Goldar to gigantic size. After a brief battle with some Putties, the Rangers summon their Dinozords, combine them into the Megazord, and draw the Power Sword to fight Goldar. Suddenly, Goldar disappears, and the Green Ranger breaks into Megazord's control center, kicking the other Rangers out to the ground below. He then single-handedly defeats all five Rangers in combat. They return to the Command Center, stunned at the beating they took from this "guy in a green costume." Suddenly, Alpha lurches, falls forward, and shuts down; the virus is still in his system. Jason grimly warns the others that they have only been through round one of what will be a major battle. They end the episode watching the Viewing Globe as Green Ranger vows their downfall. Part II begins in the Command Center, as the Rangers debate their options on how to deal with the Green Ranger. Billy and Trini finish repairing Alpha, eradicating the virus from his circuits. While the Blue and Yellow Rangers set to work repairing the computers, the others return to town. Tommy returns to the earth with orders from Rita to stay put until she calls for him again. After she leaves, he encounters Bulk and Skull, who want revenge for the way he humiliated them earlier. They demand an apology from him. Tommy's eyes, glowing an evil green, shoot sparks at Bulk and Skull's feet, scaring them silly and causing them to jump into a dumpster for cover. After Tommy leaves, they both agree that Tommy needs his eyes checked, wondering what is going on with him. Jason, his pride hurt from his encounter with the Green Ranger, is taking out his frustration on a punching bag at the Youth Center. Slowly it dawns on both him and Zack that it must have been the Green Ranger who wrecked the Command Center. Meanwhile, Kimberly, who goes to ask Tommy why he never showed for the study date, notices a change in Tommy's personality. He rudely tells her he doesn't need her to worry about him and that she is not the center of his universe. Kimberly is offended and brokenhearted, and she expresses her feelings to Zack. Zack tells her to forget about Tommy for the time being, since they have "bigger problems to worry about". Back on the moon, at Goldar's suggestion Rita decides to put Tommy through one final test: if he can defeat another band of Putties using only his natural karate skills, he will be given the Sword of Darkness, a legendary weapon which Rita's forces used against Zordon's Rangers millennia ago. Rita wants to give him this weapon because, as Finster explains, it will allow Rita to maintain control of Tommy forever, provided the Sword is not destroyed. The only one who knows of its power is Zordon, and he is not around to tell the other Rangers to destroy it. Rita and her minions go down to earth together to watch Tommy battle the Putties. Tommy soundly defeats them, exceeding Rita and Goldar's expectations, and is rewarded with the Sword. Later, Jason meets Tommy and tells him that a workout session between the two of them will have to wait due to an "emergency". Tommy says he understands, and Jason turns to leave. Then Tommy zaps Jason with his Power Coin and sends him to Rita's Dark Dimension. There the Red Ranger encounters Goldar, who has stolen his morpher. Jason finds himself in a desperate struggle to regain his morpher and stay alive. Zack and Kimberly decide to go back to the Command Center in the RADBUG and rejoin Billy and Trini, who have by now repaired the computers and restored them to partial power. Attempts to regain contact with Zordon fail. The Rangers become highly concerned about Jason's disappearance. Jason continues his struggle to get his morpher back from Goldar, who beats him around with sadistic pleasure. The Green Ranger reappears and taunts the Rangers. In Jason's absence, Zack decides that they will go into battle to try to learn his indentity. But with Jason gone and the Green Ranger armed with the Sword of Darkness, he dispatches them even more easily than before. However, they call on the Megazord and force him to retreat. Rita is highly annoyed by this setback until Squatt and Baboo remind her that Jason is still their prisoner. The episode ends with Jason at the mercy of Goldar, who has received orders from Rita to finish him. While the Power Rangers attempt to find Jason and renew contact with Zordon, Jason continues his desperate confrontation with Goldar, trying to hide in the Dark Dimension's mist. Kimberly continues her search for Jason at Ernie's Juice Bar. When Bulk and Skull offer to help, demanding a kiss as payment, quick-thinking Kimberly tricks Skull into kissing Bulk! Leaving the dimwitted duo to argue with each other, Kimberly resumes her search and encounters Tommy. She tries to ask Tommy about Jason, but he replies that Jason didn't show up for a practice session they had scheduled, taunts her for being a worry-wart, and walks off. She and Zack go to ask Tommy about Jason again; but Rita, realizing that they might suspect him of being the Green Ranger, sends a squad of Putties to attack. This gives Tommy time to slip away. Zack and Kimberly wonder why the Putties didn't attack him, but suspect nothing. The Green Ranger, his secret out of danger, gains Rita's permission to take Goldar's place in the Dark Dimension and kill Jason. Goldar leaves, jealous of being deprived of the honor. Words are exchanged between the Red and Green Rangers. The fight begins anew. Jason grabs his morpher, but before he can use it, the Green Ranger pins him to the ground and takes a moment to gloat over his victory. But just before he can strike the final blow with the Sword of Darkness, Billy, who has repaired the communicators and teleportation devices, finally isolates Jason's whereabouts and teleports him back to the Command Center. Goldar, furious, harshly reprimands the Green Ranger, who begs for another chance. Goldar replies that he'll have to check with Rita and leaves the Green Ranger in the Dark Dimension for the time being. The Green Ranger undergoes further practice with his karate skills in preparation for another battle with the Power Rangers. When he does ask Rita for another chance, Rita tells him to be patient because the time is not right. The reunited Rangers discuss Jason's experience, compare notes, and realize that Tommy isn't being honest with them, but they still don't draw any connection between Tommy and the Green Ranger. And they are no closer to finding Zordon. Meanwhile, Scorpina, one of Rita's most dangerous minions, rejoins Rita after 10,000 years, and she is sent to attack Angel Grove. The Rangers do battle with her, further taxing themselves until she is recalled. While the Rangers recover in the Command Center, Alpha 5 finally finds a way to track down Zordon. He is beginning to renew contact when Rita sends a giganticized Goldar to attack the city, intending to force the Rangers to summon the Megazord, all the while cooking up a spell to cause a solar eclipse and drain the Megazord, energized by solar power, of it's energy. The Rangers end the episode watching desperately on the Viewing Globe as Goldar destroys several buildings in downtown Angel Grove. Realizing that they have no choice but to fight yet again, the Rangers draw their morphers. However, when they try to morph, sparks fly and the Command Center blacks out. Apparently, focusing the energy on finding Zordon drained power from the Morphing Grid, and nothing (morphers, Zords, communicators, and most of the lights in the Command Center) works. Goldar manages to tear a section of Angel Grove apart before Billy reconfigures the Command Center and restores power. The Rangers morph and go to fight Goldar. After a short exchange with Scorpina, some Putties, and the giant Goldar, the Rangers have a brief confrontation with Rita. She sends Goldar to the beach, carrying a bus with Bulk and Skull, who were trying to flee the city, in one hand. The Rangers teleport after him, trying to save the troublesome duo. After a few tense moments of watching Putties pushing the bus toward a cliff, the Rangers call on their Zords, and the Megazord catches the bus just before it falls, depositing an overjoyed Bulk and Skull back on the cliff. Meanwhile, Rita again sends Tommy, who has been practicing swordplay in the Dark Dimension, to the Command Center, this time to get rid of Zordon for good. He pulls the plug on Alpha, exchanges words with a partially restored Zordon, and then presses a few buttons to undo all of Alpha's work in bringing him back. He is just about to leave when, much to his surprise, Alpha reactivates. Having accessed his "backup power generators", the quick-thinking robot traps him in a force field. Unfortunately, all the progress made in finding Zordon is lost, to the dismay of Alpha and the glee of the Green Ranger. Alpha indignantly sets into motion a program to learn Green Ranger's indentity. The Megazord, which is dealing a heavy beating to Goldar, suddenly finds itself fighting Scorpina as well, who has also been enlarged and now sports a hideous appearance. Furthermore, Rita's solar eclipse begins and drains the Megazord of its power, so that it is overwhelmed by the dual attack and knocked to the ground. Jason calls for the Power Sword to give the Megazord a power boost. It works, and the Megazord is immediately back on its feet when it grabs the sword, going on the offensive again. Rita, determined not to lose the fight, uses a spell to free Green Ranger from the Command Center force field (to Alpha's consternation), grows him to giant size, and sends him into battle as well. The Megazord is surrounded by Goldar, Scorpina, and the Green Ranger, and doesn't have enough power to finish the battle. Scorpina further weakens Megazord by electrocuting it with her stinging tail, while Goldar and the Green Ranger combine their swords to deal Megazord a crippling shockwave The Rangers are thrown out from the exploding Megazord, demorph involuntarily, and watch helplessly in shock as the defeated Zords fall into a crevice in the earth and are consumed by lava. Back in the Command Center, all the Rangers except Jason are considering surrender, with Jason and Alpha 5 desperately trying to persuade them otherwise. But with the Zords totalled and the chances of finding Zordon under ten percent, there isn't much hope. However, Alpha does have some good news; while Green Ranger was trapped in the force field, the computer learned his identity. The episode ends with the Rangers looking into the Viewing Globe and reacting in utter disbelief upon discovering that their nemesis is, in fact, Tommy. Upon discovering that Tommy is the Green Ranger, the Power Rangers are at first in shock and denial. But once they face the facts, they split up to find him, on a quest to save him from Rita's power. Kimberly goes to the Youth Center and finds Ernie, Bulk and Skull watching the news reports of the last battle. Bulk and Skull are making ridiculous claims about being the ones who scared Goldar away; to this Kimberly responds, "Dream on!" Then she asks Ernie if Tommy is around, and he directs her to the weight machines where Tommy is working out. She tells him that she knows his Green Ranger identity. She is left speechless when he glares at her with eyes glowing green, addresses her as the Pink Ranger, and threatens to destroy her and the other Rangers and bring the world under Rita's rule. Meanwhile, toasting her victory over the Megazord in her palace on the moon, Rita decides to complete the destruction of the Power Rangers by reviving the Dragonzord, dormant for 10,000 years. She gives Tommy the Dragon Dagger, and he assumes control of this new Zord and wreaks havoc on downtown Angel Grove. The Rangers are discussing Kimberly's encounter with Tommy when Trini frantically bursts in and tells them about this new assault on their city. The Rangers morph into action, but without their Zords, they can do nothing to stop the Dragonzord. As the Rangers fight a losing battle with Tommy, desperately trying to convince him that he doesn't know what he's doing, Alpha finally succeeds in his search for Zordon. When Zordon returns to the Command Center, he and Alpha revive the damaged Dinozords from their lava prison and return them to the Rangers. Zordon also tells Jason that he must destroy the Sword of Darkness to break Rita's grip on Tommy's mind. Rita, upon seeing the Zords resurrected, gets one of her famous headaches. A one-on-one duel ensues between Tommy, controlling the Dragonzord, and Jason in the Tyrannosaurus. When the Dragonzord is beaten down, the Rangers call on the Megazord to finish it off. Megazord succeeds and hurls the Dragonzord into the side a mountain. Once the Dragonzord is disabled, Jason, who has received orders from Zordon to destroy the Sword of Darkness to break the spell, leaps from the Megazord to fight Tommy in person. The Red and Green Rangers battle back and forth in an evenly matched duel. Green Ranger activates his golden chest armor, the Dragon Shield, to ward off Jason's attacks. Just when it appears Green Ranger will win, Jason finally throws his Power Sword at Tommy, knocking the Dragon Dagger and Sword of Darkness out of his hands. Green Ranger, unprepared for this blow, is thrown on his back. Jason draws his blade blaster, says, "It's all over, Tommy!", and shoots and destroys the Sword of Darkness. Rita's spell is broken, and Tommy involuntarily demorphs. When Tommy revives, he is remorseful over what he has done. But Jason and the other Rangers are quick to forgive him, taking into account that he was under an evil spell, and Jason invites him to join the team as the sixth and final Ranger. Tommy is reluctant at first, but the others convince him that he belongs with them and can use his powers against Rita. At that, Tommy agrees to join the team. From the Command Center, Zordon and Alpha watch what Zordon calls the fulfillment of a historic prophecy, that the Sixth Ranger would fight for justice rather than evil. Rita and her minions, meanwhile, are enraged that they lost the battle when everything was going so well for them, and Goldar promises vengeance. Meanwhile, Zordon summons the six Rangers back to the Command Center. He praises Alpha for displaying leadership in his absence, and commends the five main Rangers for their refusal to give up when the odds were against them. He then confirms Tommy as the Green Ranger, and Tommy promises to obey the Rangers' three main rules. He also tells them that Dragonzord can go into Battle-Mode by combining with the Mastodon, Triceratops, and Saber-Toothed Tiger Dinozords. Finally, Billy presents Tommy with his own wrist-communicator, Jason and Tommy shake hands in friendship, and the six Rangers huddle up for a Power Ranger high-five. The opening crawl reveals that the Galactic Empire has been working on the construction of a new armored space station which is to be even larger and more powerful than the first Death Star. Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca, Lando Calrissian, Princess Leia Organa, C-3PO, and R2-D2 return to Tatooine in an attempt to rescue Han Solo from the gangster Jabba the Hutt. Leia, disguised as a bounty hunter, attempts to secretly free Solo, who is still encased in carbonite. She succeeds, only to be discovered and captured by Jabba, who makes her his personal slave. Several days later Luke arrives to make one final plea to Jabba to release Solo. Luke is then captured by Jabba's guards and dropped into a dungeon to battle a rancor. After defeating the rancor he is sent along with Han Solo and Chewbacca to the Great Pit of Carkoon to be slowly consumed by the Sarlacc. With the help of R2-D2, Luke escapes and a large battle erupts; during the chaos, Leia strangles Jabba to death with her slave chains, and Han accidentally knocks Boba Fett, the bounty hunter who brought him to Jabba, into the pit where he is eaten alive by the Sarlacc. Following this, Luke blasts Jabba's sail barge with its own deck cannon, and all of the heroes manage to escape before it explodes. Luke then returns to Dagobah to complete his Jedi training. However, upon arriving, he finds Yoda is languishing. Yoda tells Luke that no other training is required, but that he will not truly be a Jedi until he confronts Darth Vader who, Yoda confirms, is Luke's father. Yoda then dies, but not before telling Luke that "there is another Skywalker". The spirit form of Obi-Wan Kenobi then appears and confirms that Vader was once Anakin Skywalker, a former Jedi who was turned to the dark side of the Force. Though he initially seemed to imply that Vader was merely another Jedi who betrayed and murdered Anakin, Obi-Wan explains that Vader truly did this in the sense of the dark side consuming Anakin's mind, apparently destroying the good man who was Luke's father and replacing him as Vader. Luke asks Obi-Wan about the "other" Skywalker Yoda mentioned—Obi-Wan reveals that this "other" is his twin sister, hidden from Anakin and separated at birth to protect them both from the Emperor. Using his intuition, Luke quickly deduces that, to Obi-Wan's confirmation, his sister is Leia. Meanwhile, the entire Rebel Alliance is meeting to devise an attack strategy. As part of the attack, Han is elected to lead a strike team to deactivate the shield generator on the forest moon of Endor which is projecting a protective shield up to the orbiting and incomplete Death Star. Luke, having returned from Dagobah, joins him and Leia for this mission; however, he soon fears that, after sensing Vader's presence within the nearby Imperial Fleet, his own presence may endanger the mission. On Endor, Luke and his companions encounter a tribe of Ewoks, primitive yet intelligent indigenous forest creatures of Endor. With the help of C-3PO, whom the Ewoks believe is a god, they are able to forge an alliance with the forest creatures. Later, Luke decides that the time has come for him to face Vader. He confesses to Leia the truth about her and Vader, and that he has to try to save the man who was once their father. He surrenders peacefully to Vader and unsuccessfully tries to convince his father to abandon the dark side. They go to the Death Star and meet the Emperor, who reveals that he knew of the attack before, and that the Rebel Alliance is walking into a trap. On the forest moon, the Rebels – led by Solo and Leia – enter the shield generator control facility only to be taken prisoner by waiting Imperial forces. Once they are led out of the bunker, however, the Ewoks spring a surprise counterattack. A desperate ground battle begins with the Rebels and Ewoks fighting the Imperial forces. The Rebels eventually gain the upper hand, due in large part to a stolen Imperial AT-ST Walker. During the strike team's assault, the Rebel fleet, led by Lando, emerges from hyperspace for the battle over Endor, only to discover that the shield of the Death Star is still functioning. An intense space battle takes place as the Rebel fleet battles to give the surface party more time to complete their mission of deactivating the Death Star's shield. During the battle, the Death Star is revealed to be operational; its superlaser is fired at the Rebel fleet and obliterates two Rebel star cruisers. This forces a rethinking of strategy and the fleet closes with the Imperial star destroyers to prevent the superlaser from firing on the Rebel fleet. On the Death Star, the Emperor tempts Luke to give in to his anger. A ferocious lightsaber duel erupts between Luke and his father. In the midst of combat, Vader reads Luke's feelings and learns that Luke has a twin sister. When Vader toys with the notion of turning Leia to the dark side, Luke gives in to his anger and brutally overpowers his father, eventually slicing off Vader's robotic right hand. However, despite the Emperor's goading, Luke refuses to kill his father, realizing that he is traveling down his father's path towards the dark side. He declares himself a Jedi, like his father before him. Upon realizing that Luke cannot be turned, the Emperor tortures and slowly kills him with Force lightning; in unspeakable pain, Luke begs his father for help. Facing a moral crisis as he sees his son dying before his own eyes, Vader finally repents in return of his former self, Anakin Skywalker, and turns on the Emperor, grabbing him over his shoulder and throwing him down a reactor shaft to his death. At the same time, however, the life support system in his suit is damaged beyond repair by the Emperor's lightning. Moments from death, he begs Luke to take off his breath mask to see him with his own eyes. Luke does so, and finally sees his father's true face: that of a pale, withered man ravaged by the dark side. He entreats Luke to leave him and save himself, and to tell Leia that there was some good left in him after all. With those last words, Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker dies, finally at peace. Back on Endor, the strike team finally destroys the shield generator. The Rebel fleet seizes the opportunity to launch a final assault on the Death Star in space. Lando leads Wedge Antilles and his fighter group into the interior of the Death Star and they fire at the main reactor, causing its collapse. Luke escapes the Death Star with his father's body in an Imperial shuttle. Moments later, Wedge in his X-Wing and Lando in the Millennium Falcon emerge from the Death Star as well, just as it explodes. Back on Endor, Leia senses that Luke had escaped the station before it exploded. Han believes that she loves Luke and is prepared to let her go, but Leia reassures Han of her love for him and reveals (to his surprise and relief) that Luke is actually her brother. That evening, Luke cremates the remains of his father in his black armor on a funeral pyre on Endor. The entire galaxy celebrates the fall of the Empire and the Rebellion's victory. On Endor, Luke, Leia, Han, Lando, and the rest of the Rebellion, along with the Ewoks, celebrate the victory as well. During the celebration, Luke catches sight of the spirit figures of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda and the redeemed Anakin Skywalker, who watch over them with pride. A large cylindrical object moves through space heading towards Earth, sending out an indecipherable signal and disabling the power of any vessel or station that it passes. As it takes orbit around Earth, it continues to send out a signal and disrupting the global power system, and then starts causing extreme weather patterns to develop over the planet while evaporating the oceans. Starfleet Command on the last of its power reserves sends out a subspace signal warning of the danger. On Vulcan, the former crew of the USS Enterprise decide to return to Earth to face the punishment for the willful destruction of the ship; Spock, still recovering from being reborn on the Genesis planet, goes with them. The crew uses the seized Klingon Bird of Prey, renamed the HMS Bounty, to return to Earth. As they enter the solar system, they hear Starfleet's warning and the alien signal; Spock is able to determine that it matches the song of humpback whales, long since extinct on Earth, and that the object will continue to wreck havoc on the planet until it can be answered. The crew devices a plan, to slingshot around the Sun to time travel back to the late 20th century and return with a whale. The time travel process is completed successfully, placing them in the year 1986, though their dilithium crystals are nearly drained and cannot be used in the current state to return to the future. After cloaking the Bird of Prey and landing it in a San Francisco, California park and adjusting to the time period, the crew splits up; Kirk and Spock to locate a whale, Scotty, Dr. McCoy and Sulu to device a holding tank for the whale, and Uhura and Chekov to search for a nuclear power source to repair the dilithium crystals. Kirk and Spock are able to quickly discover a pair of humpback whales, "George" and "Gracie", at the Cetacean Institute, and are told by the Institute's whale expert, Dr. Gillian Taylor, that the whales are shortly going to be released into the wild, making the pair ideal for their needs. However, to be able to track them, Kirk attempts to woo Dr. Taylor to reveal the tracking codes for the whales. Despite his pleads, she rebuffs him. Scotty, McCoy, and Sulu are able to work with materials fabricator to create and acquire "transparent aluminum", a lightweight material that can hold the water needed in the tank aboard the Bounty. While Uhura and Chekov are able to locate the U.S.S. Enterprise, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, and draw some of its power to restore the dilithium, but as they do, Chekov is captured, and a resulting escape attempt severally injures him and he is taken to a hospital. McCoy worries for Chekov's health due to the barbaric practices of the current era of medicine, and the crew put together an escape attempt, forcing Kirk to reveal their true intent to Dr. Taylor to pull it off. After they safely recover Chekov, Dr. Taylor reveals that the whales have been released a day early, and coerces Kirk to bring her along so she can help find them. The crew is able to locate the whales before they are hunted by whalers, and transport the creatures aboard. With Dr. Taylor and the whales, the crew reverses the slingshot maneuver and return to the future. The Bounty approaches Earth but immediately loses power due to the alien signal. The ship splashes down into the San Francisco bay, and they are able to release the whales from the hold. The whales are able to answer the signal, causing the object to restore Earth to its normal condition and to return to the depths of outer space. Despite their success, the crew is put to trial at Starfleet for several charges, including the destruction of the Enterprise, but in light of their heroic efforts, only the charge of disobeying a superior officer is not waived, with the punishment being the demotion of Kirk from Admiral to Captain, giving him command of a new starship. Though smitten by Kirk, Dr. Taylor takes a position aboard a civilian science vessel, being the only expert on whales in this century. The crew departs to their new vessel, the newly constructed USS Enterprise A, and depart on another mission. Approaching its 200th anniversary, Gotham City's leaders fear that the high level of criminal activity will deter citizens from attending the celebrations. Gotham's mayor William Borg orders District Attorney Harvey Dent to make the city safe again, in hopes of revitalizing local business. Dent, in turn, targets mob boss Carl Grissom, who sponsors much of the criminal activity within Gotham and has paid off a significant segment of the police force. Meanwhile, a dark vigilante dressed as a bat has attracted the attention of both the police and the local media. Newspaper reporter Alexander Knox is attempting to investigate, but his questions are deflected by skeptical cops, including Lt. Eckhardt, one of many police officers on the take from Grissom. After stonewalling Knox, Eckhardt is shown taking a payoff from Grissom's second in command, Jack Napier. Grissom, on discovering that his mistress is involved with Napier, sets him up to be killed by Eckhardt in a raid on Axis Chemicals. The plot is foiled by the arrival of Police Commissioner James Gordon, who wants Napier taken alive, and Batman. Batman captures Napier, but releases him when Bob the Goon holds Gordon hostage at gunpoint. Batman vanishes, and in the confusion, Napier shoots and kills Eckhardt, then attempts to shoot a re-emerged Batman. The latter deflects his shot, sending shrapnel into the former's face. Napier falls over a railing into a vat of chemicals, presumably to his death. Although surrounded by the police, Batman escapes the scene. Batman, as we discover, is actually billionaire industrialist Bruce Wayne, an orphan who lives alone in the large mansion Wayne Manor, with only his butler Alfred Pennyworth in attendance. At a fundraising party, Bruce meets and falls for famous photojournalist Vicki Vale, recently arrived in town to cover the "Bat Man phenomenon." Napier, in the meantime, is not dead but horribly disfigured, with white skin, green hair, and a permanent grin (after a botched reconstructive surgery attempt). Already erratic, the trauma has apparently driven him completely insane. Calling himself "The Joker", he kills Grissom and usurps his criminal empire. His first scheme is to spread terror in the city by creating hygiene products that can kill by fatal hilarity when used in certain combinations, laced with a deadly chemical known as "Smylex." Following the death of a news anchor on-air, the city becomes paralyzed with fear. Making war on several fronts, the Joker then sets a trap at the Gotham Museum of Art for Vicki, with whom he has become smitten; his fellows start to slash and deface the entire legacy of Western Art, but as one of them approaches to Francis Bacon's Figure with Meat, the Joker stops him saying "I kinda like this one". Batman intervenes and saves Vicki, to whom he then gives the secret of the Joker's chemical combinations. Batman renders her unconscious, and she awakes at home. Incensed at Batman eluding him while taking Vale and ruining his poisoning scheme, the Joker vows to eliminate the mysterious vigilante for interfering with his plans. Vicki's apartment is then the scene of a confrontation between the Joker, who has come to woo her, and Bruce, who has come to try and confess about his double-life but not getting very far. After Bruce challenges the Joker to a fight, the Joker pulls a gun and asks him: "Tell me something, friend. Have you ever danced with the devil by the pale moonlight?" He then shoots Bruce. The Joker then leaves amid his own hoopla, and Vicki is shocked to see that Bruce has disappeared, leaving behind only a metal platter which he used as an impromptu bulletproof vest. That confrontation confirmed for Bruce that the Joker is actually the man who murdered his parents many, many years ago in Gotham. The final clue was that his parents' murderer said the same phrase to him as The Joker said in Vicki's apartment ("Ever dance with the Devil by the pale moonlight?"). As Bruce grapples with this memory, he is shocked by the sudden appearance of Vicki in the Bat Cave; Alfred having decided that she deserved to know the truth. The Joker has put his own plans in motion to upstage the city's canceled anniversary celebrations with a grand spectacle: a nighttime parade at which he will dispense $20 million in free cash. Vicki and Knox are there to cover the pandemonium, and they notice strange tanks on the balloons. In the middle of his generosity, the Joker begins gassing the crowd. Batman arrives in his bat-shaped jet(in this film called the batwing) and snatches the balloons away to carry them out of the city. Furious, the Joker shoots Bob the Goon, his number one thug. Batman returns to make a strafing run on the Joker, who responds by shooting down the jet with an insanely long-barreled revolver. Vicki approaches the downed craft but is captured by the Joker, who leads her to the top of Gotham Cathedral. Dazed but not finished, Batman pursues. At the top of the cathedral, the two adversaries confront each other in single combat. In a moment of opportunity, the Joker pulls Batman and Vicki off the belfry, where they cling to the ledge for their lives. as The Joker begins mocking them his helicopter appears and he grabs hold of a dangling ladder, about to escape. Batman shoots a wire around the Joker's leg, connecting it to a stone gargoyle on the ledge. As the Joker is lifted away, the wire pulls the gargoyle loose and he plummets to his death. The movie ends with Commissioner Gordon announcing the Gotham police have arrested all the Joker's gang remnants who were not killed by Batman, and unveiling the Bat-Signal supplied by Batman with a note promising to return if the city needs him.